Kenneth B. Morris Jr

Kenneth B. Morris Jr. descends from two of the most influential names in American history: he is the great-great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass and the great-great-grandson of Booker T. Washington. His mother, Nettie Washington Douglass, is the daughter of Nettie Hancock Washington (granddaughter of Booker T. Washington), and Dr. Frederick Douglass III (great-grandson of Frederick Douglass). Morris's life until the year 2007 could be described as distinguished yet decisively disengaged from his lineage until Providence called.

As co-founder and president of the Atlanta-based nonprofit Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives (FDFI), Morris continues his family’s legacy of anti-slavery and educational work. FDFI's mission is to "Advance Freedom through Knowledge and Strategic Action." He could not have predicted that one day he would so fully embrace and be defined by the characteristics that so closely defined his famous ancestors. FDFI educates young people about all forms of forced servitude and inspires them to action with projects like PROTECT, a partnership with two California-based nonprofit organizations, 3Strands Global and Love Never Fails, to provide human trafficking prevention education to thousands of California schoolchildren from grade school to high school. Another significant initiative, the One Million Abolitionists project, aims to distribute one million copies of a special Bicentennial edition of "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave" to young people across the country.

Morris is an accomplished and prolific public speaker, regularly appearing before diverse audiences including charitable organizations, governmental agencies, civic organizations, and students across the country. He has lectured at universities including Columbia, Yale, Morehouse College, UNLV, Tuskegee University, Loyola University Chicago, and has appeared on media platforms like CNN, Democracy Now!, PBS, NPR, The Tavis Smiley Show, and the CBS Evening News. Moreover, Morris is honored to have been a keynote speaker at the United Nations on several occasions. He has featured in the National Geographic documentaries "Civil Warriors" and "Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color," as well as the documentary "Rise Up: The Legacy of Nat Turner." His literary contributions include the afterword to "Picturing Frederick Douglass" and the foreword to a bicentennial edition of the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave."

Prior to co-founding FDFI, Morris was a partner at C&A Marketing, and has served on various boards including the Booker T. Washington Family Committee and the Frederick Douglass Ireland Project. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from the University of La Verne, where he received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. His accolades include the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom’s Frederick Douglass Underground Railroad Legacy Award, the Women’s E-News 21 Leaders for the 21st Century Ida B. Wells Award for Bravery in Journalism, the Anne Frank Change the World Award, and the Frederick Douglass Medal from the Douglass Institute for African & African-American Studies at the University of Rochester. Morris strongly believes, as did Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, that education is the pathway to freedom.